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Difference between revisions of "India"

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{{Country
 
{{Country
 
|name          =''भारत गणराज्य <br/>Bhārat Gaharājya''
 
|name          =''भारत गणराज्य <br/>Bhārat Gaharājya''
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|map         =India rel01.jpg
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|map         =India-map-img.png
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|map2          =India location.png
 
|flag         =Flag of India svg.png
 
|flag         =Flag of India svg.png
 
|arms         =Emblem of India.png
 
|arms         =Emblem of India.png
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|government =Federal Republic
 
|government =Federal Republic
 
|government-raw =
 
|government-raw =
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|language =Hindi
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|language =[[Hindi language|Hindi]], [[English language|English]]
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|president =Pratibha Patil
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|king         =
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|queen         =
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|monarch-raw =
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|president =Droupadi Murmu
 
|president-raw =
 
|president-raw =
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|pm         =Manmohan Singh
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|chancellor =
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|chancellor-raw =
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|pm         =Narendra Modi
 
|pm-raw         =
 
|pm-raw         =
 
|area         =3,287,590 sq mi
 
|area         =3,287,590 sq mi
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|pop         =1,129,866,154 (2007)
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|pop         =1,380,000,000 (2020)
 
|pop-basis =
 
|pop-basis =
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|gdp         =
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|gdp         =$2,590,000,000,000 (2020)
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|gdp-year =$4.2 trillion (2006)
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|gdp-year =
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|gdp-pc         =$3,800 (2006)
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|gdp-pc        =$2,174 (2020)
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|currency =rupee
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|currency =[[rupee]]
 
|idd =
 
|idd =
 
|tld            =
 
|tld            =
 
}}
 
}}
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The '''Republic of India''' ('''Bharat''') ([[Hindi]]:'''हिंदुस्तान''' ''Hindustan'') is a massive [[Social democracy|social democratic]] nation located in [[South Asia]] with a [[population]] of 1.42 billion people - the most of any country in the world.<ref>https://www.downtoearth.org.in/video/governance/india-surpasses-china-to-become-most-populous-country-in-the-world-87257#:~:text=According%20to%20projections%20by%20the,now%20stands%20at%201.41%20billion.</ref> It spans from the [[Himalayas]] in the north to the [[Indian Ocean]]. It borders [[Afghanistan]], [[Tajikistan]],<ref>http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/documents/harisingh47.html</ref>[[Tibet]], [[East Turkestan]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]] and [[Myanmar]]. India is the 7th largest country in the world in terms of area and second most populous country (standing at around 1.4 billion according to 2021 estimate), only behind China.
  
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The '''Republic of India''' is a nation located in [[South Asia]]. It spans from the [[Himalayas]] in the north to the [[Indian Ocean]]. It borders [[China]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]] and [[Myanmar]]. India is the 7th largest country in the world in terms of area and second most populous country (standing at around 1.1 billion according to 2006 estimate), only behind China. Home to the Indus Valley Civilization, the history, culture and tradition of India is more than 3000 years old. Though India is world's fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, it has high levels of [[poverty]], [[illiteracy]], [[corruption]] and [[crime]].  
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India is far more [[conservative]] than [[China]], and the vast majority of Indians practice [[Hinduism]], a religion which emphasizes family values, education, and tradition.  The belief in [[reincarnation]] in Hinduism gives primacy to the future rather than the past, in contrast with Chinese religions.
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Founded on August 15, 1947, India was known as the ''Union of India'' until it re-declared itself a [[democratic republic]], using the name Republic of India. Though India is the world's third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, and the fifth-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, it has high levels of [[poverty]], [[illiteracy]], [[corruption]] and [[crime]]. However, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and crime are declining dramatically, due to government reforms.
  
 
==Etymology==
 
==Etymology==
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The name "India" came from the word 'Indus', which derives from the Persian word "Hindu" which was used to describe the Sindhu river (now known as the Indus).
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The original name of India prior to European colonialism was Hindustan. The word Hindustan traces its origins back to the Brihaspati Agama where its says ''"Starting from Himalaya up to Indu waters is this God created country called Hindustan."''<ref>https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/indian-religions/hinduism/how-old-is-the-word-hindu/</ref>
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==Geography==
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==People==
 
==People==
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Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population. India's median age is 25. About 70% live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities.   
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[[File:Indians.jpg|right]]
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Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population; only China has a larger population. India's median age is 25, one of the youngest among large economies. About 70% live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities. Over the thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West; Indian people and culture have absorbed and modified these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.
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Religion, [[caste]], and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today. However, with more job opportunities in the private sector and better chances of upward social mobility, India has begun a quiet social transformation in this area. The government has recognized 18 official languages;<ref>"In the early 1900s ... English was ascendant in India. ... It was the lingua franca to which Indians, who spoke more than a dozen distinct languages, turned when they did not otherwise understand one another." ([https://www.amazon.com/The-Man-Who-Knew-Infinity/dp/0671750615 ''The Man Who Knew Infinity''], page 25 - [[Robert Kanigel]])</ref> Hindi, the national language, is the most widely spoken, although English is a national lingua franca. Although 81% of its people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 138 million Muslims—one of the world's largest [[Muslim]] populations. The population also includes [[Christian]]s, [[Sikh]]s, [[Jain]]s, [[Buddhist]]s, and [[Parsi]]s.
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The Hindu [[caste system]] reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient [[Sanskrit]] sources divide society into four major categories, priests ([[Brahmin]]), warriors ([[Kshatriya]]), traders-[[merchant]]s ([[Vaishya]]) and farmers/laborers ([[Shudra]]). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as "[[untouchables]]." In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis—local, endogamous groups based on occupation—and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, but remains prevalent, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies. Moreover, caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities, where an increasing percentage of India's population lives. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system.
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==Religions==
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===Overview===
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[[File:Indian family going to church.jpg|thumb|Indian family going to church.]]
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India has over 900 million [[Hindu]]s, 150 millions [[Muslim]]s, 25 million [[Christian]]s and 20 million [[Sikh]]s among the many religious groups that make up the country<ref>https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html</ref> including communities of [[Jain]]s, [[Buddhist]]s, and [[Bahai]].
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India is the region where four major world religions were founded:
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*[[Hinduism]]
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*[[Buddhism]]
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*[[Jainism]]
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*[[Sikhism]]
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Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third- and fourth-largest religions respectively, after Christianity and Islam, with a collective 1.4 billion followers.
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===Hinduism in India===
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[[Image:Krishna a la flute.gif|right|180px]]
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Hinduism as it is identified today has existed in India for over 4000 years; in the past it had spread to the rest of South-East [[Asia]] and [[Indonesia]], although Hinduism is practiced outside India today only in the island of [[Bali]].
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The beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era (1500–500BC) are called the "historical Vedic religion". Modern Hinduism grew out of the [[Vedas]],a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. They form the oldest layer of [[Sanskrit]] literature and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, the oldest of which is the [[Rigveda]], dated to 1700–1100BC. The Vedas center on worship of deities such as [[Indra]], Varuna and Agni, and on the Soma ritual. They performed fire-sacrifices, called yajña and chanted Vedic mantras but did not build temples or icons. The oldest Vedic traditions exhibit strong similarities to [[Zoroastrian]]ism and with other Indo-European religions. During the Epic and Puranic periods, the earliest versions of the epic poems [[Ramayana]] and [[Mahabharata]] were written roughly from 500–100BC, although these were orally transmitted for centuries prior to this period. The epics contain mythological stories about the rulers and wars of ancient India, and are interspersed with religious and philosophical treatises. The later Puranas recount tales about devas and devis, their interactions with humans and their battles against demons.
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===Buddhism in India===
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Buddhism originated in Eastern India in the 6th century B.C. and spread to the rest of Asia through individual and organized missionaries, although there are few practicing Buddhists left in India today.
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===Jainism in India===
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Jainism originated in Eastern India in the 6th century B.C. and spread to the rest of India; today they are mostly concentrated in the Southern and Western parts of the country.   
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===Sikhism in India===
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Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in India in the 16th century A.D.
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===Language===
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===Other Religions in India===
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The government has recognized 18 official languages; [[Hindi]], the national language, is the most widely spoken, although [[English]] is a national lingua franca.
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===Hindu caste system===
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[[Christianity]] arrived in India in the first century A.D., possibly through the travels of the [[Apostle Thomas]], whose tomb in the Indian city of Chennai is a major pilgrimage site for Christians in India.  
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The Hindu caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources divide society into four major categories, '''priests''' ('''Brahmin'''), '''warriors''' ('''Kshatriya'''), '''traders''' ('''Vaishya''') and '''farmers/laborers''' ('''Shudra'''). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as "untouchables". In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis--local, endogamous groups based on occupation--and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, but remains prevalent, especially in rural areas. Caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system. However caste-based politics in India is prevalent. Many political parties openly engage in caste-based politics. Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Janata Dal claim that they are representing the backward castes, and depend on votes from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for winning elections.<ref name="country_studies_caste">{{cite web
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|title=Caste-Based Parties
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|url=http://countrystudies.us/india/116.htm
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}}</ref>
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==Religion==
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[[Islam]] arrived in the latter half of the 8th century A.D. as a consequence of both war and trade.  It continued to spread with invasions, wars and forced conversions by Afghans and Turkic Mongols. They slowly integrated into the society and formed India's Islamic tradition. The [[Taj Mahal]], India's national monument, was built by a Muslim emperor named Shah Jahan. Islam is practiced by around 13.4% of all Indians.
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{{main|Relegion in India}}
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[[Image:Taj Mahal.jpg|thumb|Taj Mahal]]
 
[[Image:Taj Mahal.jpg|thumb|Taj Mahal]]
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====Demographics====
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[[File:13th-century tombstone with an inscription in Hebrew in India..jpg|thumb|13th-century tombstone with an inscription in Hebrew in India..jpg]]
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'''Hinduism''' is India's largest religion; 80.4% of the population are Hindu.  
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An ancient -- 13th-century -- tombstone with an inscription in Hebrew, was found in Ramanthapuram in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, may shed light on a forgotten Jewish community in the country.<ref>[https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/392683 A tombstone with 13th-century Hebrew inscription discovered in India].<blockquote>
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'''Islam''' is the largest minority religion in India; 13.4% of the population are Muslim.
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A young chemical engineer from India, Thoufeek Zakriya, researcher of Jewish history and Hebrew calligrapher, was the first to decipher the inscription on the tombstone.</blockquote>
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'''Christianity''' is the third largest religion of India; 2.3% of the population are Christians.
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''Israel National News'', Jul 7, 2024</ref>
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India is home to 12 million '''Buddhists'''; 0.773% of the population are Buddhists. 4.2 million '''Jains''' live in India; 0.4% of the population are Jains. According to census of 2001, there are 19.2 million '''Sikhs''' in India. 0.006% of the population are '''Parsis''' ('''Zoroastrians'''). 2.2 million people in India follow the '''Bahá'í Faith''', which is the largest national contingent of Bahá'ís in the world. '''Jews''' are a religious minority of India, and are concentrated in the states of Kerala and Maharashtra. 2% of the population are '''atheists'''.
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====Violence towards Christians====
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Although small in number, India does have a Jewish community. The first identifiably [[Judaism|Jewish]] migrants arrived in India as the Bene Israel group. There is some debate as to the Jewishness of a possibly older group of Indians in the Northeastern part of the country called the Bnei Menashe.
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Hindu nationalist groups like '''Bajrang Dal''', '''Vishva Hindu Parishad''' ('''VHP''') have anti-Christian sentiment. VHP has engaged in several programs to convert Christians to Hinduism. In a well-publicised case, Bajrang Dal member Dara Singh and 12 others killed Graham Staines, a Christian missionary and his two sons Philip and Timothy (aged 10 and 8 respectively). Graham Staines was working with leprosy sufferers for 34 years. '''Shiv Sena''', a political party in India, remain opposed to Valentine's Day celebrations and members of Shiv Sena carried out violent attacks on shops and restaurants organising Valentine's Day.
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==Facts==
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===Religious Persecution===
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*Population (2007): 1.12 billion; urban 27.8%.
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*Annual growth rate: 1.3%
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While for many years India has been known as an area of the world where a melting pot of religions could be practiced freely, troubling and persistent persecution against [[Christian]]s by the [[Hindu]] majority arose in the 1990s and has continued since that time.  In October 2008, 38 Christians were killed and 30,000 fled from efforts of Hindu nationalist militants to force them to convert to Hinduism.<ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27380721</ref>
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*Density: 324/sq. km.
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*Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, others 3%. While the national census does not recognize racial or ethnic groups, it is estimated that there are more than 2,000 ethnic groups in India.  
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There are also frequent attacks upon Indian Christians by [[Muslims]] in India, who make up a large proportion of the population. They subject the Indian Christian population to harassment and intimidation, particularly those who were previously Muslims. In 2006, a Muslim who converted to Christianity in the Indian state of Kashmir was shot dead by [[Jihadism|Jihadist]] militants.<ref>http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6705</ref>
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*Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi.
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*Languages: Hindi, English, and 16 other official languages.  
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*Education: Years compulsory--none. Literacy--61%.
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*Health: Infant mortality rate--34.61/1,000. Life expectancy--68.59 years (2007 est.).
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*Work force (est.): 450 million. Agriculture--60%; industry and commerce--18%; services and government--22%
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==Government==
 
==Government==
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Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha (lower house). The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.  
 
Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha (lower house). The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.  
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[[File:Delhi Tomb of Imam Zamin Qutub Minar Complex.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of Imam Zamin Qutub, Delhi.]]
 
India's bicameral Parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.  
 
India's bicameral Parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.  
  
 
The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12. The members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members, who serve 5-year terms; 543 are directly elected, and two are appointed.  
 
The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12. The members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members, who serve 5-year terms; 543 are directly elected, and two are appointed.  
  
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India's independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Anglo-Saxon countries. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and 25 other justices, all appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.  
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India's independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Commonwealth countries. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and 25 other justices, all appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.  
  
 
India has 28 states* and 7 union territories. At the state level, some legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses of the national parliament. The states' chief ministers are responsible to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible to Parliament.  
 
India has 28 states* and 7 union territories. At the state level, some legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses of the national parliament. The states' chief ministers are responsible to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible to Parliament.  
  
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Each state also has a presidentially appointed governor, who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the states, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local governments in India have less autonomy than their counterparts in the United States. Some states are trying to revitalize the traditional village councils, or panchayats, to promote popular democratic participation at the village level, where much of the population still lives. Over half a million panchayats exist throughout India.  
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Each state also has a presidentially appointed governor, who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the states, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local governments in India have less autonomy than their counterparts in the United States. Some states are trying to revitalize the traditional village councils, or panchayats, to promote popular democratic participation at the village level, where much of the population still lives. Over half a million panchayats exist throughout India.
  
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===Principal Government Officials===
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===Recent politics===
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*President--Pratibha Patil
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As of late September 2025 India, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the [[European Union]] (EU) launched talks on a [[Free Trade]] Agreement as India aims to expand [[export]]s, secure [[market]] access, and strengthen its role in global trade.
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*Vice President--Mohammed Hamid Ansari
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*Prime Minister--Dr. Manmohan Singh
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*Home Minister--Shivraj Patil
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*Minister of External Affairs--Pranab Mukherjee
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*Ambassador to the U.S.--Ronen Sen
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*Ambassador to the UN--Nirupam Sen
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===Politics===
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==Principal Government Officials==
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{{main|Politics of India}}
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*President—Pranab Mukherjee
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*Vice President—Mohammed Hamid Ansari
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*Prime Minister—Narendra Modi
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*Home Minister—Rajnath Singh
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*Minister of External Affairs—Shushma Swaraj
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*Ambassador to the U.S.--Arun Singh
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*Ambassador to the UN—Syed Akbaruddin
  
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===Politics ===
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After the 2014 elections, the BJP, led by conservative [[Narendra Modi]], won an absolute majority in the lower house, and after the 2017 state elections it received an absolute majority in the upper house as well.
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The governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress sailed to a decisive victory in India's parliamentary elections in May 2009, adding 57 seats. The election gave a second term to prime minister Manmohan Singh, age 77, a soft-spoken economic reformer, and ended the prospect of political instability in the world's most populous democracy.  The election confirmed that Sonia Gandhi, age 62, dominates the Congress Party. She is the Italian-born widow of the assassinated former prime minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]] and the daughter-in-law of the prime minister before him, [[Indira Gandhi]], who was also assassinated.  The Congress-led coalition built its near-majority with an appeal to the rural poor. During its first term, buoyed by robust economic growth, it used record government revenues to increase social spending, not just raising health and education budgets, but also starting an ambitious public works program in the countryside and a costly loan repayment waiver for farmers.  Mrs. Gandhi won support by casting herself as a leader who relinquished power, turning down her party's appeals to become prime minister, first in 2004 and again this time. Instead, she chose the soft-spoken economist, Mr. Singh, and between them, they controlled the party and the government. She took care of the politics of keeping the coalition together, while he served as the chief executive who followed her advice.
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[[File:India-14.jpg|thumb|390px]]
 
Emerging as the nation's single largest party in the April/May 2004 Lok Sabha election, Congress currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Party President Sonia Gandhi was re-elected by the Party National Executive in May 2005. Also a Member of Parliament, she heads the Congress Lok Sabha delegation. Congress prides itself as a secular, left of center party, with a long history of political dominance. Although its performance in national elections had steadily declined during the last 12 years, its surprise victory in 2004 was a result of recruiting strong allies into the UPA, the anti-incumbency factor among voters, and its courtship of India's many poor, rural and Muslim voters. Congress political fortunes suffered badly in the 1990s, as many traditional supporters were lost to emerging regional and caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, but have rebounded since its May 2004 ascension to power. It currently rules either directly or in coalition with its allies in 9 states. In November 2005, the Congress regained the Chief Ministership of Jammu and Kashmir state, under a power-sharing agreement.  
 
Emerging as the nation's single largest party in the April/May 2004 Lok Sabha election, Congress currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Party President Sonia Gandhi was re-elected by the Party National Executive in May 2005. Also a Member of Parliament, she heads the Congress Lok Sabha delegation. Congress prides itself as a secular, left of center party, with a long history of political dominance. Although its performance in national elections had steadily declined during the last 12 years, its surprise victory in 2004 was a result of recruiting strong allies into the UPA, the anti-incumbency factor among voters, and its courtship of India's many poor, rural and Muslim voters. Congress political fortunes suffered badly in the 1990s, as many traditional supporters were lost to emerging regional and caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, but have rebounded since its May 2004 ascension to power. It currently rules either directly or in coalition with its allies in 9 states. In November 2005, the Congress regained the Chief Ministership of Jammu and Kashmir state, under a power-sharing agreement.  
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Rajnath Singh, holds the second-largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee serves as Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party, and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani is Leader of the Opposition. The Hindu-nationalist BJP draws its political strength mainly from the "Hindi Belt" in the northern and western regions of India.  
 
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Rajnath Singh, holds the second-largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee serves as Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party, and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani is Leader of the Opposition. The Hindu-nationalist BJP draws its political strength mainly from the "Hindi Belt" in the northern and western regions of India.  
  
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The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa--in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP made strong inroads into lower castes in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, and other primarily religious issues), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.  
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The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa—in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP made strong inroads into lower castes in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, and other primarily religious issues), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.
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Recently, the Bhartiya Janata Party scored a major victory in the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014, with Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister. Modi known to have made the Indian state of Gujarat become an economic powerhouse and one of the most developed state in India.
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[[Image:Haveli in Mandawa, India.jpg|240px|right|Haveli in Mandawa.]]
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Four Communist and Marxist parties are united in a bloc called the "Left Front," which controls 57 parliamentary seats. The Left Front rules the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Although it has not joined the government, Left Front support provides the crucial seats necessary for the UPA to retain power in New Delhi; without its support, the UPA government would fall. It advocates a secular and Communist ideology and opposes many aspects of economic liberalization and globalization, resulting in dissonance with [[Prime Minister]] Singh's liberal economic approach.
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==Foreign Relations==
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[[File:Putin Modi Xi.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Putin, Modi, and Xi]]
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{{See also|Foreign relations of India}}
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India's size, population, and strategic location give it a prominent voice in international affairs, and its growing economic strength, military prowess, and scientific and technical capacity give it added weight. The end of the [[Cold War]] dramatically affected Indian foreign policy. India remains a leader of the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). India is now strengthening its political and commercial ties with the United States, Japan, the European Union, Iran, China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. India is an active member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
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 +
Always an active member of the United Nations, India now seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India has a long tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping operations.
 +
 
 +
===United States===
 +
 
 +
In September 2022 the [[Biden regime]] approved a $450 million [[F-16]] fighter jet fleet maintenance programme to Pakistan,<ref>https://youtu.be/_3F6bVOyS68</ref> reversing the decision of the previous [[Trump administration]] to suspend military aid to Islamabad for providing safe havens for the Afghan [[Taliban]] and the [[Haqqani network]].  Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar rejected the logic that the F-16 sustainment package approved by the Biden regime for Pakistan was to fight terrorism. Jaishankar said that everybody knows where and against whom F-16 fighter jets are used, an indirect reference that Pakistan uses them against India.  “You are not fooling anybody by saying these things,” Jaishankar said in response to a question during an interaction with Indian-Americans.
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 +
===China===
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The year 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of [[diplomatic]] relations between India and [[China]]. Chinese Foreign Minister [[Wang Yi]] stated that China is keen to collaborate with India to build on past experiences and open up new possibilities for future engagement. "China stands ready to work with India to sum up past experience and forge a fast forward and advance China-India relations on the track of sound and stable development," he said.
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 +
While challenges remain, recent diplomatic engagements signal a shift towards a more [[pragmatic]] approach. Both countries appear committed to dialogue, reducing tensions, and shaping a future where they can coexist as strong, cooperative partners.<ref>https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/hindi-chini-bhai-bhai-2-0-dragon-and-elephant-must-dance-together-says-china-fm-pushing-for-stronger-sino-india-ties/articleshow/118779096.cms</ref>
 +
 
 +
==Bilateral and Regional Relations==
 +
 
 +
===Tense relations with Pakistan===
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India and Pakistan have been locked in a very tense rivalry since the partition of the subcontinent upon achieving independence from Great Britain in 1947. The principal source of contention has been Kashmir, whose Hindu Maharaja at that time chose to join India, although a majority of his subjects were Muslim. India maintains that his decision and subsequent elections in Kashmir have made it an integral part of India. This dispute triggered wars between the two countries in 1947 and 1965 and provoked the Kargil conflict in 1999.
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Pakistan and India fought a war in December 1971 following a political crisis in what was then East Pakistan and the flight of millions of Bengali refugees to India. The brief conflict left the situation largely unchanged in the west, where the two armies reached an impasse, but a decisive Indian victory in the east resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
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[[File:Iran Pakistan India gas pipeline.JPG|thumb|left|300px|Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.]]
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Since the 1971 war, Pakistan and India have made slow progress toward normalization of relations. In July 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met in the Indian hill station of Simla. They signed an agreement by which India would return all personnel and captured territory in the west and the two countries would "settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations." Diplomatic and trade relations were re-established in 1976.
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The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused new strains between India and Pakistan. Pakistan supported the Afghan resistance, while India implicitly supported the Soviet occupation. In the following eight years, India voiced increasing concern over Pakistani arms purchases, U.S. military aid to Pakistan, and Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. In an effort to curtail tensions, the two countries formed a joint commission. In December 1988, Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto concluded a pact not to attack each other's nuclear facilities and initiated agreements on cultural exchanges and civil aviation.
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In 1997, high-level Indo-Pakistani talks resumed after a three-year pause. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan met twice, and the foreign secretaries conducted three rounds of talks. In June 1997 at Lahore, the foreign secretaries identified eight "outstanding issues" around which continuing talks would be focused. The dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir, an issue since partition, remains the major stumbling block in their dialogue. India maintains that the entire former princely state is an integral part of the Indian union, while Pakistan insists upon the implementation of UN resolutions calling for self-determination for the people of the state.
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In September 1997, the talks broke down over the structure of how to deal with the issues of Kashmir and peace and security. Pakistan advocated that separate working groups treat each issue. India responded that the two issues be taken up along with six others on a simultaneous basis. In May 1998 India, and then Pakistan, conducted nuclear tests. Attempts to restart dialogue between the two nations were given a major boost by the February 1999 meeting of both Prime Ministers in Lahore and their signing of three agreements. These efforts were stalled by the intrusion of Pakistani-backed forces into Indian-held territory near Kargil in May 1999 (that nearly turned into full-scale war), and by the military coup in Pakistan that overturned the Nawaz Sharif government in October the same year. In July 2001, Mr. Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf, leader of Pakistan after the coup, met in Agra, but talks ended after two days without result.
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After an attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, India-Pakistan relations cooled further as India accused Pakistan of involvement. Tensions increased, fueled by killings in Jammu and Kashmir, peaking in a troop buildup by both sides in early 2002.
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Prime Minister Vajpayee's April 18, 2003 speech in Srinagar (Kashmir) revived bilateral efforts to normalize relations. In November 2003, Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf agreed to a [[ceasefire]], which still holds, along the Line-of-Control in Jammu and Kashmir. After a series of confidence building measures, Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf met on the sidelines of the January 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad and agreed to commence a Composite Dialogue addressing outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, including Kashmir. The UPA government has continued the Composite Dialogue with Pakistan.
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In February 2004, India and Pakistan agreed to restart the "2+6" Composite Dialogue formula, which provides for talks on Peace and Security and Jammu and Kashmir, followed by technical and Secretary-level discussions on six other bilateral disputes: Siachen Glacier, Wuller Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project, Sir Creek estuary, Terrorism and Drug Trafficking, Economic and Commercial cooperation, and the Promotion of Friendly Exchanges in various fields. The Foreign Secretary talks resumed in November 2006, after a three-month delay following the July 11, 2006 terrorist bombings in Mumbai. The meeting generated modest progress, with the two sides agreeing to establish a joint mechanism on counter-terrorism and agreeing to a follow-on meeting in February 2007. The restart of the Composite Dialogue process is especially significant, given the almost six years that transpired since the two sides agreed to this formula in 1997–98.
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Following the October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, the two governments coordinated relief efforts and opened access points along the Line-of-Control to allow relief supplies to flow from India to Pakistan and to allow Kashmiris from both sides to visit one another.
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 +
===Relations with China===
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In June 2020 troops from the [[Peoples Liberation Army]] (PLA) and India clashed in the Galwan Valley.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53062484</ref>  The battle was fought with rocks, batons, and barbed wire-wrapped clubs.  A 1996 agreement banned the use of guns and explosives along the disputed line of control.  India reported 20 of their soldiers were killed, whereas the [[Peoples Republic of China]] (PRC) did not report any of its deaths. Indian media and the [[Russia]]n news agency [[TASS]] reported that as many as 45 PLA soldiers may have been killed.<ref>https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/china-says-5-military-officers-soldiers-killed-in-galwan-clash-with-india-report-2373770</ref>  Over the following 12 months the PLA increased its troop strength along the border from 15,000 to 50,000 by July 2021, and moved advanced surface-to-air missiles including its HQ-9 system, which is similar to Russia’s S-300 and America’s [[Patriot missile]].<ref>https://archive.is/6Hbvt</ref>
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[[Ladakh]] was not the only Himalayan hotspot. There is a Chinese encroachment in India's Sikkim as well as incursions in neighboring Bhutan and Nepal.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55793112</ref>
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[[Beijing]]'s campaign against India has been multifaceted.  Cleo Paskal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said, "Since June of last year [2020], there was a China-attributed attack on the Mumbai electric grid, Chinese-linked [[Maoist]] terrorists killed another 20 Indian security forces, and we witnessed a destructive attack on an iPhone parts-manufacturing plant that looks like part of a Beijing political warfare operation to discourage the shifting of supply chains to India."  Paskal explains, "The breadth and depth of the Communist Party's aggressive unrestricted warfare against India leads one to think there are no barriers to Beijing's malign behavior."
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China has changed the definition of "warfare," and one of its instruments is disease. If [[SARS-CoV-2]], the pathogen causing [[COVID-19]], did not start out as a [[biological weapon]], [[Chinese Communist Party]] leaders turned it into one, by lying about contagiousness and pressuring other countries to take disease-ridden arrivals from China.<ref>https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17547/china-mobilizing-war</ref>
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===Russia===
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The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the emergence of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had major repercussions for Indian foreign policy. India's substantial trade with the region plummeted after the Soviet collapse and has yet to recover. Longstanding military supply relationships were similarly disrupted due to questions over financing. Russia nonetheless remains India's largest supplier of military systems and spare parts.  
  
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Four Communist and Marxist parties are united in a bloc called the "Left Front," which controls 57 parliamentary seats. The Left Front rules the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Although it has not joined the government, Left Front support provides the crucial seats necessary for the UPA to retain power in New Delhi; without its support, the UPA government would fall. It advocates a secular and Communist ideology and opposes many aspects of economic liberalization and globalization, resulting in dissonance with Prime Minister Singh's liberal economic approach.
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Russia and India have not renewed the 1971 Indo-Soviet Peace and Friendship Treaty and follow what both describe as a more pragmatic, less ideological relationship. The visit of Russian President Boris Yeltsin to India in January 1993 helped cement this new relationship. The pace of high-level visits has since increased, as has discussion of major defense purchases. UPA leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Singh visited Russia in July 2005. President Vladimir Putin traveled to India in January 2007 to attend an Indo-Russia Summit and was the guest of honor at India's Republic Day celebrations.
  
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==Foreign relations==
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===South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)===
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{{main|Foreign relations of India}}
+
  
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India's size, population, and strategic location give it a prominent voice in international affairs, and its growing economic strength, military prowess, and scientific and technical capacity give it added weight. The end of the Cold War dramatically affected Indian foreign policy. India remains a leader of the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). India is now strengthening its political and commercial ties with the United States, Japan, the European Union, Iran, China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. India is an active member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).  
+
Certain aspects of India's relations within the subcontinent are conducted through the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Its members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with the People's Republic of China, Iran, Japan, European Union, Republic of Korea, and the U.S. as observers. Established in 1985, SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics, and terrorism.  
  
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Always an active member of the United Nations, India now seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
+
SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided those which could prove divisive, although political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. In 1993, India and its SAARC partners signed an agreement gradually to lower tariffs within the region. Forward movement in SAARC had slowed because of tension between India and Pakistan, and the SAARC summit scheduled for 1999 was not held until January 2002. In addition, to boost the process of normalizing India's relationship with Pakistan, the January 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad produced an agreement to establish a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA). All the member governments have ratified SAFTA, which was slated to come into force on January 1, 2006, with a series of graduated tariff cuts through 2015. As of December 2006, however, the FTA partners were still negotiating sensitive product lists, rules of origin, and technical assistance. India hosted the 2007 SAARC summit, which called for greater regional cooperation on trade, environmental, social, and counterterrorism issues.
  
 
==Defense==
 
==Defense==
 
The supreme command of the Indian armed forces is vested in the President of India. Policies concerning India's defense, and the armed forces as a whole, are formulated and confirmed by the Cabinet.  
 
The supreme command of the Indian armed forces is vested in the President of India. Policies concerning India's defense, and the armed forces as a whole, are formulated and confirmed by the Cabinet.  
  
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The Indian Army numbers over 1.1 million strong and fields 34 divisions. Its primary task is to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country against external threats. The Army has been heavily committed in the recent past to counterterrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the in the Northeast. Its current modernization program focuses on obtaining equipment to be used in combating terror. The Army often provides aid to civil authorities and assists the government in organizing relief operations.  
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In April 2024 Indian news sources reported that India received its first batch of 24 Russian [[Igla]]-S [[MANPAD|man-portable air defense systems]] and 100 missiles. India and [[Russia]] signed a contract ion November 2023 for the supply of 120 systems and 400 missiles. Although the first systems were supplied from Russia the remaining ones will reportedly be produced in India.<ref>[https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/indian-army-gets-portable-igla-s-air-defence-system-heres-all-about-next-gen-missiles-to-be-deployed-at-china-pakistan-borders/articleshow/109133759.cms Indian Army gets portable Igla-S Air defence system; Here's all about next-gen missiles to be deployed at China, Pakistan borders], ''ET Online'', Apr 08, 2024. economictimes.indiatimes.com</ref>
  
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The Indian Navy is by far the most capable navy in the region. The Navy's primary missions are the defense of India and of India's vital sea lines of communication. India relies on the sea for 90% of its oil and natural gas and over 90% of its foreign trade. The Navy currently operates one aircraft carrier with two on order, 14 submarines, and 15 major surface combatants. It is capable of projecting power within the Indian Ocean basin and occasionally operates in the South China Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Fleet introduction of the Brahmos cruise missile and the possible lease of nuclear submarines from Russia will add significantly to the Indian Navy's flexibility and striking power.
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===Indian Army===
  
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Although small, the Indian Coast Guard has been expanding rapidly in recent years. Indian Navy officers typically fill top Coast Guard positions to ensure coordination between the two services. India's Coast Guard is responsible for control of India's huge exclusive economic zone.  
+
The Indian Army numbers over 1.1 million strong and fields 34 divisions. Its primary task is to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country against external threats. The Army has been heavily committed in the recent past to counterterrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the in the Northeast. Its current modernization program focuses on obtaining equipment to be used in combating terror. The Army often provides aid to civil authorities and assists the government in organizing relief operations.
  
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The Indian Air Force is becoming a 21st century force through modernization, new tactics and the acquisition of modern aircraft, such as the SU-30MKI, a new advanced jet trainer (BAE Hawk) and the indigenously produced advanced light helicopter (Dhruv). In June 2007, the Indian Government announced intentions to release a request for proposals for 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
+
===Indian Navy===
  
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==Economy==
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The Indian Navy is by far the most capable navy in the region. The Navy's primary missions are the defense of India and of India's vital sea lines of communication. India relies on the sea for 90% of its oil and natural gas and over 90% of its foreign trade. The Navy currently operates one aircraft carrier with two on order, 14 submarines, and 15 major surface combatants. It is capable of projecting power within the Indian Ocean basin and occasionally operates in the [[South China Sea]], the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Fleet introduction of the Brahmos cruise missile and the possible lease of nuclear submarines from Russia will add significantly to the Indian Navy's flexibility and striking power.  
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India has the world's 12th largest economy--and the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China--with total GDP of around $1 trillion. Services, industry, and agriculture account for 55%, 27%, and 18% of GDP respectively. Nearly 2/3 of the population depends on agriculture for livelihood.
+
  
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India is continuing to move forward with market-oriented economic reforms that began in 1991. Recent reforms include liberalized foreign investment and exchange regimes, industrial decontrol, significant reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers, reform and modernization of the financial sector, significant adjustments in government monetary and fiscal policies, and safeguarding intellectual property rights.  
+
Although small, the Indian Coast Guard has been expanding rapidly in recent years. Indian Navy officers typically fill top Coast Guard positions to ensure coordination between the two services. India's Coast Guard is responsible for control of India's huge exclusive economic zone.
  
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Real GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007 was 9.4%. Foreign portfolio and direct investment inflows have risen significantly in recent years. They have contributed to $255 billion in foreign exchange reserves by June 2007. Government receipts from privatization were about $3 billion in fiscal year 2003-2004, but the privatization program has stalled since then.
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===Indian Air Force===
  
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Economic growth is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, a cumbersome bureaucracy, corruption, labor market rigidities, regulatory and foreign investment controls, the "reservation" of key products for small-scale industries, and high (although declining) fiscal deficits. The outlook for further trade liberalization is mixed. India eliminated quotas on 1,420 consumer imports in 2002 and has incrementally lowered non-agricultural customs duties in recent successive budgets. However, the tax structure is complex, with compounding effects of various taxes.
+
The Indian Air Force is becoming a 21st-century force through modernization, new tactics and the acquisition of modern aircraft, such as the SU-30MKI, a new advanced jet trainer (BAE Hawk) and the indigenously produced advanced light [[helicopter]] (Dhruv). In June 2007, the Indian Government announced intentions to release a request for proposals for 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.
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*GDP (FY 2007): $1 trillion ($1,000 billion).
+
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*Real growth rate (2006-2007 est.): 9.4%.
+
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*Per capita GDP (FY 2006-2007): $909.
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*Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds, crude oil.
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*Agriculture: 18% of GDP. Products--wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute, tea
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*Industry: 27% of GDP. Products--textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals, and computer software.
+
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*Services and transportation: 55% of GDP.
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*Trade: Exports (FY 2006-2007)--$127 billion; engineering goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts, tea. Software exports--$22 billion. Imports (FY 2006-2007)--$192 billion; petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers, chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel. Major trade partners--U.S., China, EU, Russia, Japan.  
+
  
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[[United States]] is India's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2006 was $32 billion. Principal U.S. exports are diagnostic or lab reagents, aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, ferrous waste/scrap metal, and computer hardware. Major U.S. imports from India include textiles and ready-made garments, Internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, gems and jewelry, leather products, and chemicals.
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== Economy ==
  
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The rapidly growing software sector is boosting service exports and modernizing India's economy. Software exports crossed $28 billion in FY 2006-2007, while business process outsourcing (BPO) revenues hit $8.3 billion in 2006-2007. Personal computer penetration is 14 per 1,000 persons. The cellular/mobile market surged to 140 million subscribers by November 2006. The country has 54 million cable TV customers.  
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The '''economy of India''', measured in [[Dollar|USD]] [[exchange rate|exchange-rate]] terms, is the [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|seventh-largest]] in the world, with a GDP of around $3 trillion as of 2020. India recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.1% for the fiscal year 2007–2008 which makes its growth the second fastest among emerging economies in the world, after China.<ref name="gdp-growthrate">{{cite news | title=India Defies Turmoil With Growth of 8.8% | date= May 31, 2007 | publisher=MarketWatch | url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121213639165032371.html?mod=googlenews_wsj}}</ref> At this rate of sustained growth many economists forecast that India would, over the coming decades, have a more pronounced economic effect on the world stage. Despite this phenomenal rate of growth, India's large [[population]] has an estimated [[per capita]] income of $2,563, measured by PPP, and $941, measured in nominal terms as of 2007.
  
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United States is India's largest investment partner, with a 13% share. India's total inflow of U.S. direct investment is estimated at more than $9 billion through 2006. Proposals for direct foreign investment are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and generally receive government approval. Automatic approvals are available for investments involving up to 100% foreign equity, depending on the kind of industry. Foreign investment is particularly sought after in power generation, telecommunications, ports, roads, petroleum exploration/processing, and mining.  
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India is the world's third-largest oil importer and sources roughly 60–65% of its [[crude oil]] from the [[Persian Gulf]] region, primarily [[Iraq]], [[Saudi Arabia]], and the [[UAE]]. It has limited domestic production and strategic reserves of only around 10–15 days — among the smallest relative to [[import]] volume of any major economy. India's fuel subsidy architecture means the government would face enormous fiscal pressure as global oil prices surged, at the same moment that import costs were consuming foreign exchange reserves. For India's 1.4 billion population — many of whom have limited financial buffers — the pass-through of [[energy]] and [[food]] cost increases would be devastating. India's industrial heartland, its [[agricultural]] sector (which depends heavily on [[diesel]] for irrigation pumps), and its nascent manufacturing base would all be severely disrupted by a closure of the [[Strait of Hormuz]].
  
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India's external debt was $155 billion in 2006-2007. Foreign assistance was approximately $3 billion in 2006-2007, with the United States providing about $126 million in development assistance. The World Bank plans to double aid to India to almost $3 billion a year, with focus on infrastructure, education, health, and rural livelihoods.
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46% of India's workforce is employed in [[agriculture]]. India is the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world.
  
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Standard of living and wealth distribution in India shows large disparity. While rural areas have little or almost non-existent medical facilities, urban areas have world class medical establishments. The top 10% of income groups earn 33% of the income,<ref name=incomedist>[http://www.indiatogether.org/photo/2003/class.htm "In Pictures &ndash; Middle Class, or Upper Class? "]</ref> while 77% of the country's population earn less than $0.40/day. 27.5% of the population was living below poverty line in 2004&ndash;2005<ref>[http://www.planningcommission.gov.in/news/prmar07.pdf Poverty estimates for 2004-05]</ref>. Corruption is a major problem affecting India. Bribery, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement etc. are some of the dominant problems.
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=== Economic History ===
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In 1960, India was the tenth-largest economy, with a $35 billion GDP.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_largest_historical_GDP</ref> In 1965, India kept the 10th place, with a $55 billion GDP. India only went to $65 billion in 1970, still being 10th. In 1975, India got bumped down to 12th by Brazil and Spain, with a $100 billion GDP. In 1980, Argentina, Mexico, and Netherlands bumped India, with a $190 billion GDP, to 14th. In 1985, India got $240 billion, this time getting to 14th, because of Argentina's crashing economy. In 1990, India, with a $325 billion GDP, went to 13th, bumping down the Netherlands. In 1995, India had a $366.7 billion GDP, but got bumped by South Korea to 14th. In 2000, the $475 billion economy, which is India, got to 13th place, bumping down Russia's declining economy. In 2005, India climbed to $833 billion, bumped down Brazil and Mexico, thus climbing to 11th. In 2010, India had a $1.725 billion GDP, and got to 9th, bumping down Canada, South Korea, and Spain, but being bumped down by Russia. In 2015, India hit the $2 trillion mark, and ultimately reaching $2.1 trillion, becoming the seventh-largest economy, bumping down Italy and Brazil. In 2020, India bumped down European powers the United Kingdom and France, and, with its $3 trillion GDP, India became the fifth-largest economy. In 2025, India is expected to have a $5 trillion GDP, and would become the fourth-largest economy, surpassing Europe's largest economy, Germany. If projections come true, India could become the third-largest economy, and Asia's second-largest economy, with a $8 trillion GDP, in 2030.  
  
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==History==
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=== General overview ===
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The people of India have had a continuous civilization since 2500 B.C., when the inhabitants of the Indus River valley developed an urban culture based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade. This civilization declined around 1500 B.C., probably due to ecological changes.  
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[[File:India...jpg|right|340px]]
  
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During the second millennium B.C., pastoral, Aryan-speaking tribes migrated from the northwest into the subcontinent, settled in the middle Ganges River valley, and adapted to antecedent cultures.  
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India's population is estimated at more than 1.1 billion and is growing at 1.3% a year. It has the world's 5th largest economy—and the third largest in [[Asia]] behind [[Japan]] and [[China]]—with total [[GDP]] of around $3 trillion ($3,000 billion). Services, industry, and [[agriculture]] account for 55%, 27%, and 18% of GDP respectively. Nearly two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. 700 million Indians live on $2 per day or less, but there is a large and growing [[middle class]] of 325-350 million with disposable income for consumer goods.  
  
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The political map of ancient and medieval India was made up of myriad kingdoms with fluctuating boundaries. In the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., northern India was unified under the Gupta Dynasty. During this period, known as India's Golden Age, Hindu culture and political administration reached new heights.  
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India is continuing to move forward with market-oriented economic reforms that began in 1991. Recent reforms include liberalized foreign investment and exchange regimes, industrial decontrol, significant reductions in [[tariff]]s and other trade barriers, reform and modernization of the financial sector, significant adjustments in government monetary and fiscal policies, and safeguarding intellectual property rights.  
  
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Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established sultanates in Delhi. In the early 16th century, Babur, a Turkish adventurer and distant relative of Timurlane, established the Mughal Dynasty, which lasted for 200 years. South India followed an independent path, but by the 17th century large areas of South India came under the direct rule or influence of the expanding Mughal Empire. While most of Indian society in its thousands of villages remained untouched by the political struggles going on around them, Indian courtly culture evolved into a unique blend of Hindu and Muslim traditions.  
+
Real GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007 was 9.4%, up from 9.0% growth in the previous year. Growth for the year ending March 31, 2008 is expected to be between 8.5 and 9.0%. Foreign portfolio and direct investment inflows have risen significantly in recent years. They have contributed to $255 billion in foreign exchange reserves by June 2007. Government receipts from privatization were about $3 billion in fiscal year 2003–2004, but the privatization program has stalled since then.  
  
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The first British outpost in South Asia was established by the English East India Company in 1619 at Surat on the northwestern coast. Later in the century, the Company opened permanent trading stations at Madras (now Chennai), Bombay (now Mumbai), and Calcutta (now Kolkata), each under the protection of native rulers.  
+
Economic growth is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, a cumbersome bureaucracy, corruption, labor market rigidities, regulatory and foreign investment controls, the "reservation" of key products for small-scale industries, and high (although declining) fiscal deficits. The outlook for further trade liberalization is mixed. India eliminated quotas on 1,420 consumer imports in 2002 and has incrementally lowered non-agricultural customs duties in recent successive budgets. However, the tax structure is complex, with compounding effects of various taxes.  
  
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The British expanded their influence from these footholds until, by the 1850s, they controlled most of present-day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In 1857, an unsuccessful rebellion in north India led by Indian soldiers seeking the restoration of the Mughal Emperor caused the British Parliament to transfer political power from the East India Company to the Crown. Great Britain began administering most of India directly, while controlling the rest through treaties with local rulers.  
+
The [[United States]] is India's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2006 was $32 billion. Principal U.S. exports are diagnostic or lab reagents, aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, [[cotton]], [[fertilizer]]s, ferrous waste/scrap metal, and computer hardware. Major U.S. imports from India include [[textile]]s and ready-made garments, Internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, [[gem]]s and [[jewelry]], leather products, and chemicals.  
  
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In the late 1800s, the first steps were taken toward self-government in British India with the appointment of Indian councilors to advise the British Viceroy and the establishment of Provincial Councils with Indian members; the British subsequently widened participation in Legislative Councils. Beginning in 1920, Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress political party into a mass movement to campaign against British colonial rule. The party used both parliamentary and nonviolent resistance and non-cooperation to agitate for independence. During this period, however, millions of Indians served with honor and distinction in the British armed forces, including service in both World Wars and countless other overseas actions in service of the Empire.  
+
The rapidly growing software sector is boosting service exports and modernizing India's economy. Software exports crossed $28 billion in FY 2006–2007, while business process outsourcing (BPO) revenues hit $8.3 billion in 2006–2007. Personal computer penetration is 14 per 1,000 persons. The cellular/mobile market surged to 140 million subscribers by November 2006. The country has 54 million [[cable TV]] customers.  
  
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With Indians increasingly united in their quest for independence, a war-weary Britain led by Labor Prime Minister Clement Attlee began in earnest to plan for the end of its suzerainty in India. On August 15, 1947, India became a dominion within the Commonwealth, with Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister. Strategic colonial considerations, as well as political tensions between Hindus and Muslims, led the British to partition British India into two separate states: India, with a Hindu majority; and Pakistan, which consisted of two "wings," East and West Pakistan--currently Bangladesh and Pakistan--with Muslim majorities. India became a republic within the Commonwealth after promulgating its Constitution on January 26, 1950.  
+
The United States is India's largest investment partner, with a 13% share. India's total inflow of U.S. direct investment is estimated at more than $9 billion through 2006. Proposals for direct foreign investment are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and generally receive government approval. Automatic approvals are available for investments involving up to 100% foreign equity, depending on the kind of industry. Foreign investment is particularly sought after in power generation, telecommunications, ports, roads, petroleum exploration/processing, and mining.  
  
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After independence, the Indian National Congress, the party of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, ruled India under the leadership first of Nehru and then his daughter (Indira Gandhi) and grandson (Rajiv Gandhi), with the exception of brief periods in the 1970s and 1980s, during a short period in 1996, and the period from 1998-2004, when a coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party governed.  
+
India's external debt was $155 billion in 2006–2007, up from $126 billion in 2005–2006. Foreign assistance was approximately $3 billion in 2006–2007, with the United States providing about $126 million in development assistance. The [[World Bank]] plans to double aid to India to almost $3 billion a year, with focus on infrastructure, education, health, and rural livelihoods.
  
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Prime Minister Nehru governed the nation until his death in 1964. Nehru was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, who also died in office. In 1966, power passed to Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. In 1975, beset with deepening political and economic problems, Mrs. Gandhi declared a state of emergency and suspended many civil liberties. Seeking a mandate at the polls for her policies, she called for elections in 1977, only to be defeated by Morarji Desai, who headed the Janata Party, an amalgam of five opposition parties.  
+
In 2016, India abolished larger banknotes in a move toward a [[Cashless society]].
  
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In 1979, Desai's Government crumbled. Charan Singh formed an interim government, which was followed by Mrs. Gandhi's return to power in January 1980. On October 31, 1984, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated, and her son, Rajiv, was chosen by the Congress (I)--for "Indira"--Party to take her place. His Congress government was plagued with allegations of corruption resulting in an early call for national elections in 1989.  
+
===Agriculture===
 +
[[Image:Varma Lady Carrying Fruits.jpg|thumb|Lady Carrying Fruits by Ravi Varma.]]
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India has a cultivated area of 138 million hectares which almost equals that of the [[European Union]]. A lot of the land has good agriculture potential especially where water supplies are available. Arable farming, especially cereals is the main kind of farming. India, which has two thirds of its working population relying on the land to earn a living, desperately needs to improve agriculture production in order to develop its economy.  
  
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Although Rajiv Gandhi's Congress Party won more seats than any other single party in the 1989 elections, he was unable to form a government with a clear majority. The Janata Dal, a union of opposition parties, then joined with the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the right and the Communists on the left to form the government. This loose coalition collapsed in November 1990, and the Janata Dal, supported by the Congress (I), came to power for a short period, with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister. That alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections in June 1991.  
+
When India became independent from [[Britain]] in 1947 the Indian government recognized agriculture as a key area for economic development. Despite this there has been limited modernization of the sector. There hasn't been an effective land reform package introduced to redistribute land from wealthy landlords to landless peasants. In the 1990s almost half of rural families had plots of 0.5 hectares or no land at all, but a quarter of India's agricultural land was owned by five percent of rich landowning families. This has made it nearly impossible to mechanize and introduce modern farm practices.
  
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While campaigning in Tamil Nadu on behalf of Congress (I), Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 27, 1991, apparently by Tamil extremists from Sri Lanka, unhappy with India's armed intervention to try to stop the civil war there. In the elections, Congress (I) won 213 parliamentary seats and returned to power at the head of a coalition, under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. This Congress-led government, which served a full 5-year term, initiated a gradual process of economic liberalization and reform, which opened the Indian economy to global trade and investment. India's domestic politics also took new shape, as the nationalist appeal of the Congress Party gave way to traditional caste, creed, regional, and ethnic alignments, leading to the founding of a plethora of small, regionally based political parties.  
+
The dominant type of farming throughout India is intensive [[Subsistence farming]]. It is used especially in rural areas with high population density, where people depend on being able to feed themselves. [[Rice]] is very important for this type of farming, especially in the Indus and Ganges flood plains. Other crops such as wheat and millet are grown in drier parts of peninsular India. Farming is a family affair, with all planting, flooding and harvesting done by hand. One of the reasons rural Indians have such large families is to provide free labour to help harvest crops. This adds to the pressure on India's service sector and India's agriculture sector to meet the demands of India's ever-growing population.
  
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The final months of the Rao-led government in the spring of 1996 were marred by several major corruption scandals, which contributed to the worst electoral performance by the Congress Party in its history. The Hindu-nationalist BJP emerged from the May 1996 national elections as the single-largest party in the Lok Sabha but without a parliamentary majority. Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the subsequent BJP coalition lasted only 13 days. With all political parties wishing to avoid another round of elections, a 14-party coalition led by the Janata Dal formed a government known as the United Front, under the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve Gowda. His government collapsed after less than a year, when the Congress Party withdrew its support in March 1997. Inder Kumar Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as the consensus choice for Prime Minister at the head of a 16-party United Front coalition.  
+
India is a country that has benefited from the Green revolution. This refers to the development and introduction of genetically modified, high yield varieties of staple crops, such as rice and wheat. These ‘miracle’ crops produce high yields and are resistant to disease and pests. Due to the Green revolution, India has managed to become a net exporter of food.
  
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In November 1997, the Congress Party again withdrew support from the United Front. In new elections in February 1998, the BJP won the largest number of seats in Parliament--182--but fell far short of a majority. On March 20, 1998, the President approved a BJP-led coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister. On May 11 and 13, 1998, this government conducted a series of underground nuclear tests, spurring U.S. President Clinton to impose economic sanctions on India pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act.  
+
There is however some problems linked to the Green revolution. It depends on large inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that may be costly and harmful to the soil in the long run. Labour is often replaced with machinery, so rural unemployment goes up and more people leave the land and go to towns, increasing rural-urban migration. A well-educated farm population and capital investment are needed. It only really benefits comparatively few, large-scale farmers; large numbers of small-scale farmers may not be able to benefit from the process.
  
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In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell apart, leading to fresh elections in September. The National Democratic Alliance--a new coalition led by the BJP--won a majority to form the government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999. The NDA government was the first in many years to serve a full five year term, providing much-needed political stability.  
+
For a large number of Indian farmers a better solution would be the introduction of more intermediate technology and a more effective programme of land reform. While the Green revolution has brought some positive results, the vast majority of India's [[rice]] farmers use traditional farm practices that depend heavily on the natural environment. The need to match food production to match India's growing population is a major concern for government.
  
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The Kargil conflict in 1999 and an attack by terrorists on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 led to increased tensions with Pakistan.
+
===Industry===
  
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Hindu nationalists supportive of the BJP agitated to build a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, destroying a 17th century mosque there in December 1992, and sparking widespread religious riots in which thousands, mostly Muslims, were killed. In February 2002, 57 Hindu volunteers returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive when their train caught fire. Alleging that the fire was caused by Muslim attackers, anti-Muslim rioters throughout the state of Gujarat killed over 900 people and left 100,000 homeless. This led to accusations that the BJP-led Gujarat state government had not done enough to contain the riots, or arrest and prosecute the rioters.  
+
When India became independent in 1947 it had a largely underdeveloped Industrial system, with textiles and food processing been the key industries in the country. Only two percent of the working population had been employed in industry, which was concentrated in the major cities; [[Bombay]], [[Calcutta]] and [[Madras]]. On gaining independence the new government was determined to reduce India's dependence on imported goods and to promote greater wealth and employment throughout the country.
  
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The ruling BJP-led coalition was defeated in a five-stage election held in April and May of 2004, and a Congress-led coalition, known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), took power on May 22 with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. The UPA's victory was attributed to dissatisfaction among poorer rural voters that the prosperity of the cities had not filtered down to them, and rejection of the BJP's Hindu nationalist agenda.  
+
The size of India's population provided it a large home market and the country had some natural resources ([[coal]] and Iron) a large and cheap labour force and outputs from agriculture (cotton, Jute) Mineral resources encouraged the government to develop heavy industries, such as Iron and [[steel]], shipbuilding and chemicals. Despite these advantages development was relatively slow and only benefited a few growth centers. In addition, by the 1980s, many heavy industries were in decline, Industrial policy has changed to emphasize Agri-industries, consumer goods industries and small craft industries, rural development (community based development and self-help schemes) and high technology industries.
  
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The Congress-led UPA government has continued many of the BJP's foreign policies, particularly improving relations with the U.S. Prime Minister Singh and President Bush concluded a landmark U.S.-India strategic partnership framework agreement on July 18, 2005. In March 2006, President Bush visited India to further the many initiatives that underlie the new agreement. The strategic partnership is anchored by a historic civil nuclear cooperation initiative and includes cooperation in the fields of space, high-technology commerce, health issues, democracy promotion, agriculture, and trade and investment.  
+
Agri-industries would be advantageous to India in that it already employs a large number of people in the agricultural sector. The development of fertilizers, machinery and food processing benefits rural communities and helps in the modernization of India's agricultural system.
  
 +
[[Consumer goods]] industries are more labor-intensive than large-scale heavy industries, so more jobs are created as a result. They also benefit from low labour costs and traditional skills, which make them more competitive in, export markets. E.g. jewellary, clothing, leather goods etc.
  
 +
With more than 70% of India's population living in rural areas, jobs need to be taken to these people rather than encouraging migration to urban areas. This involves support for community development projects and self-help schemes that improve skills levels among the workforce.
 +
 +
High technology (Hi-tech) industries are attracted to India by the growing number of India's skilled workers (Which produces more university graduates than USA and Canada combined) low costs and improved communication systems. These high value industries add a modern face to Indian industry. Many major multinationals, such as [[IBM]] and [[Texas instruments]], have located in India. Large numbers of locally owned companies have also set up to supply software components to western markets. (See [[Spin-off Effect]])
 +
 +
Although the government has tried to spread industry across the country, this growing sector remains concentrated in a growing number of city regions. The most important are [[Calcutta]], [[Bombay]] and [[Bangalore]]. Bangalore is known as ‘India’s silicon valley’ as a result of all the high-tech industries which have set up there.
 +
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===Trade===
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In FY24, India exported $77.5 billion worth of merchandise goods to the [[United States]] and imported $42.2 billion worth of goods from it, resulting in a [[trade surplus]] of $35.3 billion in India’s favor.
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The [[US]] is India’s largest destination for pharmaceutical [[export]]s, accounting for over 31% of the country's total pharmaceutical exports. As much as 47% of all generics consumed in the US are imported from India.
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 +
===Education===
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[[File:Sikh pilgrim at the Golden Temple in Amritsar India.jpg|thumb|300px|Sikh pilgrim at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.]]
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India has a large number of [[University|Universities]], but the quality ranges from poor to medicore. The best students head to the U.S. or Britain.  To cover this weakness, the government in July 2009 announced plans to expand the higher education budget by 40%, to $3.1-billion, for 2009–10.
 +
 +
The government in 2009 allotted an extra $435-million to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology, and $170.5-million more to open 16 central universities in states that lack one. In keeping with its agenda of inclusive economic growth, the government has also announced interest-free loans for disadvantaged students to take technical and professional courses.
 +
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To increase India's college-going rate to 21% by 2017, Prime Minister Singh has announced plans to start five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology — thus doubling the number of top-tier institutions in the country. He also wants to set up 16 central universities, 14 “world class” universities, and almost 400 colleges.
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 +
==History==
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See [[History of India]]
 +
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==Further reading==
 +
* Cohen, Stephen P. ''India: Emerging Power'' (2002) [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0815715013/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpt and online search from Amazon.com]
 +
* Guha, Ramachandra. ''India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy'' (2008) [https://www.amazon.com/India-After-Gandhi-History-Democracy/dp/0060958588/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545228&sr=1-8 excerpt and text search]
 +
* Nilekani, Nandan. ''Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation'' (2009) business in India [https://www.amazon.com/Imagining-India-Idea-Renewed-Nation/dp/1594202044/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545602&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
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* Panagariya, Arvind. ''India: The Emerging Giant'' (2008) 544 pp., The major recent history; for advanced readers. [https://www.amazon.com/India-Emerging-Giant-Arvind/dp/0195315030/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222697254&sr=8-1  excerpt and text search]
 +
* Wolpert, Stanley. ''India'' (4th ed. 2009), 264pp; excellent overview and introduction [https://www.amazon.com/India-Stanley-Wolpert/dp/0520260325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255296028&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
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===Guides===
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* ''India'' (Lonely Planet Guide) by Sarina Singh et al. (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/India-Country-Guide-Sarina-Singh/dp/1741043085/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545228&sr=1-4 excerpt and text search]
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* '' India'' (Eyewitness Travel Guides by DK Publishing (2002) [https://www.amazon.com/India-Eyewitness-Travel-Guides-Publishing/dp/0789483955/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545500&sr=1-18 excerpt and text search])
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* ''India - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette'' by Nicki Grihault (2006) [https://www.amazon.com/India-Culture-Smart-customs-etiquette/dp/1857333055/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545228&sr=1-5 excerpt and text search]
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* ''The Rough Guide to India'' (2008) [https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Guide-India-Travel-Guides/dp/1858289947/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242545228&sr=1-10 excerpt and text search]
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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<div class="references-small"> 
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{{Reflist}}
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<references/> 
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</div>
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==See also==
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* [[99 year Lease(India)]]
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* [[World History Lecture Three]] for more information on Ancient India.
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* [[Anti-conversion legislation in India]]
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* [[Oriental art]]
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* [[Indian Painting]]
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* [[Nuclear target structures]]
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* [[Andaman and Nicobar Islands]]
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* [[Opposition to the partition of India]]
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{{Indian philosophy topics}}
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{{Buddhist topics}}
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==See Also==
 
  
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[[World History Lecture Three]] for more information on Ancient India.
 
  
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{{License|license = This work is in the [[public domain]] in the United States because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.| source = [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm]}}
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{{Copyright Details (US Government)|source=[http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm]}}
  
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[[Category:Asian Countries]]
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{{Asian Countries}}
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[[Category:India]]
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[[Category:Indian History]]
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[[Category:Buddhism]]
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[[Category:Nuclear Defense]]

Latest revision as of 05:50, March 11, 2026

भारत गणराज्य
Bhārat Gaharājya
India-map-img.png
India location.png
Flag of India svg.png
Emblem of India.png
Flag Coat of Arms
Capital New Delhi
Government Federal Republic
Language [[Hindi, English]] (official)
President Droupadi Murmu
Prime minister Narendra Modi
Area 3,287,590 sq mi
Population 1,380,000,000 (2020)
GDP $2,590,000,000,000 (2020)
GDP per capita $2,174 (2020)
Currency rupee

The Republic of India (Bharat) (Hindi:हिंदुस्तान Hindustan) is a massive social democratic nation located in South Asia with a population of 1.42 billion people - the most of any country in the world.[1] It spans from the Himalayas in the north to the Indian Ocean. It borders Afghanistan, Tajikistan,[2]Tibet, East Turkestan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. India is the 7th largest country in the world in terms of area and second most populous country (standing at around 1.4 billion according to 2021 estimate), only behind China.

India is far more conservative than China, and the vast majority of Indians practice Hinduism, a religion which emphasizes family values, education, and tradition. The belief in reincarnation in Hinduism gives primacy to the future rather than the past, in contrast with Chinese religions.

Founded on August 15, 1947, India was known as the Union of India until it re-declared itself a democratic republic, using the name Republic of India. Though India is the world's third-largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, and the fifth-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, it has high levels of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and crime. However, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, and crime are declining dramatically, due to government reforms.

Etymology

The original name of India prior to European colonialism was Hindustan. The word Hindustan traces its origins back to the Brihaspati Agama where its says "Starting from Himalaya up to Indu waters is this God created country called Hindustan."[3]

People

Indians.jpg

Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world's land area, it supports over 15% of the world's population; only China has a larger population. India's median age is 25, one of the youngest among large economies. About 70% live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities. Over the thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan, and the West; Indian people and culture have absorbed and modified these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.

Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today. However, with more job opportunities in the private sector and better chances of upward social mobility, India has begun a quiet social transformation in this area. The government has recognized 18 official languages;[4] Hindi, the national language, is the most widely spoken, although English is a national lingua franca. Although 81% of its people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 138 million Muslims—one of the world's largest Muslim populations. The population also includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.

The Hindu caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources divide society into four major categories, priests (Brahmin), warriors (Kshatriya), traders-merchants (Vaishya) and farmers/laborers (Shudra). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as "untouchables." In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis—local, endogamous groups based on occupation—and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, but remains prevalent, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies. Moreover, caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities, where an increasing percentage of India's population lives. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system.

Religions

Overview

Indian family going to church.

India has over 900 million Hindus, 150 millions Muslims, 25 million Christians and 20 million Sikhs among the many religious groups that make up the country[5] including communities of Jains, Buddhists, and Bahai.

India is the region where four major world religions were founded:

Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third- and fourth-largest religions respectively, after Christianity and Islam, with a collective 1.4 billion followers.

Hinduism in India

Krishna a la flute.gif

Hinduism as it is identified today has existed in India for over 4000 years; in the past it had spread to the rest of South-East Asia and Indonesia, although Hinduism is practiced outside India today only in the island of Bali.

The beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era (1500–500BC) are called the "historical Vedic religion". Modern Hinduism grew out of the Vedas,a large corpus of texts originating in Ancient India. They form the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, the oldest of which is the Rigveda, dated to 1700–1100BC. The Vedas center on worship of deities such as Indra, Varuna and Agni, and on the Soma ritual. They performed fire-sacrifices, called yajña and chanted Vedic mantras but did not build temples or icons. The oldest Vedic traditions exhibit strong similarities to Zoroastrianism and with other Indo-European religions. During the Epic and Puranic periods, the earliest versions of the epic poems Ramayana and Mahabharata were written roughly from 500–100BC, although these were orally transmitted for centuries prior to this period. The epics contain mythological stories about the rulers and wars of ancient India, and are interspersed with religious and philosophical treatises. The later Puranas recount tales about devas and devis, their interactions with humans and their battles against demons.

Buddhism in India

Buddhism originated in Eastern India in the 6th century B.C. and spread to the rest of Asia through individual and organized missionaries, although there are few practicing Buddhists left in India today.

Jainism in India

Jainism originated in Eastern India in the 6th century B.C. and spread to the rest of India; today they are mostly concentrated in the Southern and Western parts of the country.

Sikhism in India

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in India in the 16th century A.D.


Other Religions in India

Christianity arrived in India in the first century A.D., possibly through the travels of the Apostle Thomas, whose tomb in the Indian city of Chennai is a major pilgrimage site for Christians in India.

Islam arrived in the latter half of the 8th century A.D. as a consequence of both war and trade. It continued to spread with invasions, wars and forced conversions by Afghans and Turkic Mongols. They slowly integrated into the society and formed India's Islamic tradition. The Taj Mahal, India's national monument, was built by a Muslim emperor named Shah Jahan. Islam is practiced by around 13.4% of all Indians.

Taj Mahal
13th-century tombstone with an inscription in Hebrew in India..jpg

An ancient -- 13th-century -- tombstone with an inscription in Hebrew, was found in Ramanthapuram in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, may shed light on a forgotten Jewish community in the country.[6]

Although small in number, India does have a Jewish community. The first identifiably Jewish migrants arrived in India as the Bene Israel group. There is some debate as to the Jewishness of a possibly older group of Indians in the Northeastern part of the country called the Bnei Menashe.

Religious Persecution

While for many years India has been known as an area of the world where a melting pot of religions could be practiced freely, troubling and persistent persecution against Christians by the Hindu majority arose in the 1990s and has continued since that time. In October 2008, 38 Christians were killed and 30,000 fled from efforts of Hindu nationalist militants to force them to convert to Hinduism.[7]

There are also frequent attacks upon Indian Christians by Muslims in India, who make up a large proportion of the population. They subject the Indian Christian population to harassment and intimidation, particularly those who were previously Muslims. In 2006, a Muslim who converted to Christianity in the Indian state of Kashmir was shot dead by Jihadist militants.[8]

Government

According to its Constitution, India is a "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic." Like the United States, India has a federal form of government. However, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and has adopted a British-style parliamentary system.

The government exercises its broad administrative powers in the name of the president, whose duties are largely ceremonial. A special electoral college elects the president and vice president indirectly for 5-year terms. Their terms are staggered, and the vice president does not automatically become president following the death or removal from office of the president.

Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha (lower house). The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.

Tomb of Imam Zamin Qutub, Delhi.

India's bicameral Parliament consists of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The Council of Ministers is responsible to the Lok Sabha.

The legislatures of the states and union territories elect 233 members to the Rajya Sabha, and the president appoints another 12. The members of the Rajya Sabha serve 6-year terms, with one-third up for election every 2 years. The Lok Sabha consists of 545 members, who serve 5-year terms; 543 are directly elected, and two are appointed.

India's independent judicial system began under the British, and its concepts and procedures resemble those of Commonwealth countries. The Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and 25 other justices, all appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.

India has 28 states* and 7 union territories. At the state level, some legislatures are bicameral, patterned after the two houses of the national parliament. The states' chief ministers are responsible to the legislatures in the same way the prime minister is responsible to Parliament.

Each state also has a presidentially appointed governor, who may assume certain broad powers when directed by the central government. The central government exerts greater control over the union territories than over the states, although some territories have gained more power to administer their own affairs. Local governments in India have less autonomy than their counterparts in the United States. Some states are trying to revitalize the traditional village councils, or panchayats, to promote popular democratic participation at the village level, where much of the population still lives. Over half a million panchayats exist throughout India.

Recent politics

As of late September 2025 India, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the European Union (EU) launched talks on a Free Trade Agreement as India aims to expand exports, secure market access, and strengthen its role in global trade.

Principal Government Officials

  • President—Pranab Mukherjee
  • Vice President—Mohammed Hamid Ansari
  • Prime Minister—Narendra Modi
  • Home Minister—Rajnath Singh
  • Minister of External Affairs—Shushma Swaraj
  • Ambassador to the U.S.--Arun Singh
  • Ambassador to the UN—Syed Akbaruddin

Politics

After the 2014 elections, the BJP, led by conservative Narendra Modi, won an absolute majority in the lower house, and after the 2017 state elections it received an absolute majority in the upper house as well.

The governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress sailed to a decisive victory in India's parliamentary elections in May 2009, adding 57 seats. The election gave a second term to prime minister Manmohan Singh, age 77, a soft-spoken economic reformer, and ended the prospect of political instability in the world's most populous democracy. The election confirmed that Sonia Gandhi, age 62, dominates the Congress Party. She is the Italian-born widow of the assassinated former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of the prime minister before him, Indira Gandhi, who was also assassinated. The Congress-led coalition built its near-majority with an appeal to the rural poor. During its first term, buoyed by robust economic growth, it used record government revenues to increase social spending, not just raising health and education budgets, but also starting an ambitious public works program in the countryside and a costly loan repayment waiver for farmers. Mrs. Gandhi won support by casting herself as a leader who relinquished power, turning down her party's appeals to become prime minister, first in 2004 and again this time. Instead, she chose the soft-spoken economist, Mr. Singh, and between them, they controlled the party and the government. She took care of the politics of keeping the coalition together, while he served as the chief executive who followed her advice.

India-14.jpg

Emerging as the nation's single largest party in the April/May 2004 Lok Sabha election, Congress currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Party President Sonia Gandhi was re-elected by the Party National Executive in May 2005. Also a Member of Parliament, she heads the Congress Lok Sabha delegation. Congress prides itself as a secular, left of center party, with a long history of political dominance. Although its performance in national elections had steadily declined during the last 12 years, its surprise victory in 2004 was a result of recruiting strong allies into the UPA, the anti-incumbency factor among voters, and its courtship of India's many poor, rural and Muslim voters. Congress political fortunes suffered badly in the 1990s, as many traditional supporters were lost to emerging regional and caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, but have rebounded since its May 2004 ascension to power. It currently rules either directly or in coalition with its allies in 9 states. In November 2005, the Congress regained the Chief Ministership of Jammu and Kashmir state, under a power-sharing agreement.


The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Rajnath Singh, holds the second-largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee serves as Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party, and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani is Leader of the Opposition. The Hindu-nationalist BJP draws its political strength mainly from the "Hindi Belt" in the northern and western regions of India.

The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa—in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP made strong inroads into lower castes in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya, and other primarily religious issues), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.

Recently, the Bhartiya Janata Party scored a major victory in the Lok Sabha Elections of 2014, with Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister. Modi known to have made the Indian state of Gujarat become an economic powerhouse and one of the most developed state in India.

Haveli in Mandawa.

Four Communist and Marxist parties are united in a bloc called the "Left Front," which controls 57 parliamentary seats. The Left Front rules the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Although it has not joined the government, Left Front support provides the crucial seats necessary for the UPA to retain power in New Delhi; without its support, the UPA government would fall. It advocates a secular and Communist ideology and opposes many aspects of economic liberalization and globalization, resulting in dissonance with Prime Minister Singh's liberal economic approach.

Foreign Relations

Putin, Modi, and Xi
See also: Foreign relations of India

India's size, population, and strategic location give it a prominent voice in international affairs, and its growing economic strength, military prowess, and scientific and technical capacity give it added weight. The end of the Cold War dramatically affected Indian foreign policy. India remains a leader of the developing world and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). India is now strengthening its political and commercial ties with the United States, Japan, the European Union, Iran, China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. India is an active member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Always an active member of the United Nations, India now seeks a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India has a long tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping operations.

United States

In September 2022 the Biden regime approved a $450 million F-16 fighter jet fleet maintenance programme to Pakistan,[9] reversing the decision of the previous Trump administration to suspend military aid to Islamabad for providing safe havens for the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar rejected the logic that the F-16 sustainment package approved by the Biden regime for Pakistan was to fight terrorism. Jaishankar said that everybody knows where and against whom F-16 fighter jets are used, an indirect reference that Pakistan uses them against India. “You are not fooling anybody by saying these things,” Jaishankar said in response to a question during an interaction with Indian-Americans.

China

The year 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and China. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated that China is keen to collaborate with India to build on past experiences and open up new possibilities for future engagement. "China stands ready to work with India to sum up past experience and forge a fast forward and advance China-India relations on the track of sound and stable development," he said.

While challenges remain, recent diplomatic engagements signal a shift towards a more pragmatic approach. Both countries appear committed to dialogue, reducing tensions, and shaping a future where they can coexist as strong, cooperative partners.[10]

Bilateral and Regional Relations

Tense relations with Pakistan

India and Pakistan have been locked in a very tense rivalry since the partition of the subcontinent upon achieving independence from Great Britain in 1947. The principal source of contention has been Kashmir, whose Hindu Maharaja at that time chose to join India, although a majority of his subjects were Muslim. India maintains that his decision and subsequent elections in Kashmir have made it an integral part of India. This dispute triggered wars between the two countries in 1947 and 1965 and provoked the Kargil conflict in 1999.

Pakistan and India fought a war in December 1971 following a political crisis in what was then East Pakistan and the flight of millions of Bengali refugees to India. The brief conflict left the situation largely unchanged in the west, where the two armies reached an impasse, but a decisive Indian victory in the east resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.

Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

Since the 1971 war, Pakistan and India have made slow progress toward normalization of relations. In July 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto met in the Indian hill station of Simla. They signed an agreement by which India would return all personnel and captured territory in the west and the two countries would "settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations." Diplomatic and trade relations were re-established in 1976.

The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused new strains between India and Pakistan. Pakistan supported the Afghan resistance, while India implicitly supported the Soviet occupation. In the following eight years, India voiced increasing concern over Pakistani arms purchases, U.S. military aid to Pakistan, and Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. In an effort to curtail tensions, the two countries formed a joint commission. In December 1988, Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto concluded a pact not to attack each other's nuclear facilities and initiated agreements on cultural exchanges and civil aviation.

In 1997, high-level Indo-Pakistani talks resumed after a three-year pause. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan met twice, and the foreign secretaries conducted three rounds of talks. In June 1997 at Lahore, the foreign secretaries identified eight "outstanding issues" around which continuing talks would be focused. The dispute over the status of Jammu and Kashmir, an issue since partition, remains the major stumbling block in their dialogue. India maintains that the entire former princely state is an integral part of the Indian union, while Pakistan insists upon the implementation of UN resolutions calling for self-determination for the people of the state.

In September 1997, the talks broke down over the structure of how to deal with the issues of Kashmir and peace and security. Pakistan advocated that separate working groups treat each issue. India responded that the two issues be taken up along with six others on a simultaneous basis. In May 1998 India, and then Pakistan, conducted nuclear tests. Attempts to restart dialogue between the two nations were given a major boost by the February 1999 meeting of both Prime Ministers in Lahore and their signing of three agreements. These efforts were stalled by the intrusion of Pakistani-backed forces into Indian-held territory near Kargil in May 1999 (that nearly turned into full-scale war), and by the military coup in Pakistan that overturned the Nawaz Sharif government in October the same year. In July 2001, Mr. Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf, leader of Pakistan after the coup, met in Agra, but talks ended after two days without result.

After an attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001, India-Pakistan relations cooled further as India accused Pakistan of involvement. Tensions increased, fueled by killings in Jammu and Kashmir, peaking in a troop buildup by both sides in early 2002.

Prime Minister Vajpayee's April 18, 2003 speech in Srinagar (Kashmir) revived bilateral efforts to normalize relations. In November 2003, Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf agreed to a ceasefire, which still holds, along the Line-of-Control in Jammu and Kashmir. After a series of confidence building measures, Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf met on the sidelines of the January 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad and agreed to commence a Composite Dialogue addressing outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, including Kashmir. The UPA government has continued the Composite Dialogue with Pakistan.

In February 2004, India and Pakistan agreed to restart the "2+6" Composite Dialogue formula, which provides for talks on Peace and Security and Jammu and Kashmir, followed by technical and Secretary-level discussions on six other bilateral disputes: Siachen Glacier, Wuller Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project, Sir Creek estuary, Terrorism and Drug Trafficking, Economic and Commercial cooperation, and the Promotion of Friendly Exchanges in various fields. The Foreign Secretary talks resumed in November 2006, after a three-month delay following the July 11, 2006 terrorist bombings in Mumbai. The meeting generated modest progress, with the two sides agreeing to establish a joint mechanism on counter-terrorism and agreeing to a follow-on meeting in February 2007. The restart of the Composite Dialogue process is especially significant, given the almost six years that transpired since the two sides agreed to this formula in 1997–98.

Following the October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, the two governments coordinated relief efforts and opened access points along the Line-of-Control to allow relief supplies to flow from India to Pakistan and to allow Kashmiris from both sides to visit one another.

Relations with China

In June 2020 troops from the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and India clashed in the Galwan Valley.[11] The battle was fought with rocks, batons, and barbed wire-wrapped clubs. A 1996 agreement banned the use of guns and explosives along the disputed line of control. India reported 20 of their soldiers were killed, whereas the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) did not report any of its deaths. Indian media and the Russian news agency TASS reported that as many as 45 PLA soldiers may have been killed.[12] Over the following 12 months the PLA increased its troop strength along the border from 15,000 to 50,000 by July 2021, and moved advanced surface-to-air missiles including its HQ-9 system, which is similar to Russia’s S-300 and America’s Patriot missile.[13]

Ladakh was not the only Himalayan hotspot. There is a Chinese encroachment in India's Sikkim as well as incursions in neighboring Bhutan and Nepal.[14]

Beijing's campaign against India has been multifaceted. Cleo Paskal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said, "Since June of last year [2020], there was a China-attributed attack on the Mumbai electric grid, Chinese-linked Maoist terrorists killed another 20 Indian security forces, and we witnessed a destructive attack on an iPhone parts-manufacturing plant that looks like part of a Beijing political warfare operation to discourage the shifting of supply chains to India." Paskal explains, "The breadth and depth of the Communist Party's aggressive unrestricted warfare against India leads one to think there are no barriers to Beijing's malign behavior."

China has changed the definition of "warfare," and one of its instruments is disease. If SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing COVID-19, did not start out as a biological weapon, Chinese Communist Party leaders turned it into one, by lying about contagiousness and pressuring other countries to take disease-ridden arrivals from China.[15]

Russia

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the emergence of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had major repercussions for Indian foreign policy. India's substantial trade with the region plummeted after the Soviet collapse and has yet to recover. Longstanding military supply relationships were similarly disrupted due to questions over financing. Russia nonetheless remains India's largest supplier of military systems and spare parts.

Russia and India have not renewed the 1971 Indo-Soviet Peace and Friendship Treaty and follow what both describe as a more pragmatic, less ideological relationship. The visit of Russian President Boris Yeltsin to India in January 1993 helped cement this new relationship. The pace of high-level visits has since increased, as has discussion of major defense purchases. UPA leader Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Singh visited Russia in July 2005. President Vladimir Putin traveled to India in January 2007 to attend an Indo-Russia Summit and was the guest of honor at India's Republic Day celebrations.

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Certain aspects of India's relations within the subcontinent are conducted through the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Its members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with the People's Republic of China, Iran, Japan, European Union, Republic of Korea, and the U.S. as observers. Established in 1985, SAARC encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics, and terrorism.

SAARC has intentionally stressed these "core issues" and avoided those which could prove divisive, although political dialogue is often conducted on the margins of SAARC meetings. In 1993, India and its SAARC partners signed an agreement gradually to lower tariffs within the region. Forward movement in SAARC had slowed because of tension between India and Pakistan, and the SAARC summit scheduled for 1999 was not held until January 2002. In addition, to boost the process of normalizing India's relationship with Pakistan, the January 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad produced an agreement to establish a South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA). All the member governments have ratified SAFTA, which was slated to come into force on January 1, 2006, with a series of graduated tariff cuts through 2015. As of December 2006, however, the FTA partners were still negotiating sensitive product lists, rules of origin, and technical assistance. India hosted the 2007 SAARC summit, which called for greater regional cooperation on trade, environmental, social, and counterterrorism issues.

Defense

The supreme command of the Indian armed forces is vested in the President of India. Policies concerning India's defense, and the armed forces as a whole, are formulated and confirmed by the Cabinet.

In April 2024 Indian news sources reported that India received its first batch of 24 Russian Igla-S man-portable air defense systems and 100 missiles. India and Russia signed a contract ion November 2023 for the supply of 120 systems and 400 missiles. Although the first systems were supplied from Russia the remaining ones will reportedly be produced in India.[16]

Indian Army

The Indian Army numbers over 1.1 million strong and fields 34 divisions. Its primary task is to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country against external threats. The Army has been heavily committed in the recent past to counterterrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as the in the Northeast. Its current modernization program focuses on obtaining equipment to be used in combating terror. The Army often provides aid to civil authorities and assists the government in organizing relief operations.

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is by far the most capable navy in the region. The Navy's primary missions are the defense of India and of India's vital sea lines of communication. India relies on the sea for 90% of its oil and natural gas and over 90% of its foreign trade. The Navy currently operates one aircraft carrier with two on order, 14 submarines, and 15 major surface combatants. It is capable of projecting power within the Indian Ocean basin and occasionally operates in the South China Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Fleet introduction of the Brahmos cruise missile and the possible lease of nuclear submarines from Russia will add significantly to the Indian Navy's flexibility and striking power.

Although small, the Indian Coast Guard has been expanding rapidly in recent years. Indian Navy officers typically fill top Coast Guard positions to ensure coordination between the two services. India's Coast Guard is responsible for control of India's huge exclusive economic zone.

Indian Air Force

The Indian Air Force is becoming a 21st-century force through modernization, new tactics and the acquisition of modern aircraft, such as the SU-30MKI, a new advanced jet trainer (BAE Hawk) and the indigenously produced advanced light helicopter (Dhruv). In June 2007, the Indian Government announced intentions to release a request for proposals for 126 multi-role combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Economy

The economy of India, measured in USD exchange-rate terms, is the seventh-largest in the world, with a GDP of around $3 trillion as of 2020. India recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.1% for the fiscal year 2007–2008 which makes its growth the second fastest among emerging economies in the world, after China.[17] At this rate of sustained growth many economists forecast that India would, over the coming decades, have a more pronounced economic effect on the world stage. Despite this phenomenal rate of growth, India's large population has an estimated per capita income of $2,563, measured by PPP, and $941, measured in nominal terms as of 2007.

India is the world's third-largest oil importer and sources roughly 60–65% of its crude oil from the Persian Gulf region, primarily Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. It has limited domestic production and strategic reserves of only around 10–15 days — among the smallest relative to import volume of any major economy. India's fuel subsidy architecture means the government would face enormous fiscal pressure as global oil prices surged, at the same moment that import costs were consuming foreign exchange reserves. For India's 1.4 billion population — many of whom have limited financial buffers — the pass-through of energy and food cost increases would be devastating. India's industrial heartland, its agricultural sector (which depends heavily on diesel for irrigation pumps), and its nascent manufacturing base would all be severely disrupted by a closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

46% of India's workforce is employed in agriculture. India is the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world.

Economic History

In 1960, India was the tenth-largest economy, with a $35 billion GDP.[18] In 1965, India kept the 10th place, with a $55 billion GDP. India only went to $65 billion in 1970, still being 10th. In 1975, India got bumped down to 12th by Brazil and Spain, with a $100 billion GDP. In 1980, Argentina, Mexico, and Netherlands bumped India, with a $190 billion GDP, to 14th. In 1985, India got $240 billion, this time getting to 14th, because of Argentina's crashing economy. In 1990, India, with a $325 billion GDP, went to 13th, bumping down the Netherlands. In 1995, India had a $366.7 billion GDP, but got bumped by South Korea to 14th. In 2000, the $475 billion economy, which is India, got to 13th place, bumping down Russia's declining economy. In 2005, India climbed to $833 billion, bumped down Brazil and Mexico, thus climbing to 11th. In 2010, India had a $1.725 billion GDP, and got to 9th, bumping down Canada, South Korea, and Spain, but being bumped down by Russia. In 2015, India hit the $2 trillion mark, and ultimately reaching $2.1 trillion, becoming the seventh-largest economy, bumping down Italy and Brazil. In 2020, India bumped down European powers the United Kingdom and France, and, with its $3 trillion GDP, India became the fifth-largest economy. In 2025, India is expected to have a $5 trillion GDP, and would become the fourth-largest economy, surpassing Europe's largest economy, Germany. If projections come true, India could become the third-largest economy, and Asia's second-largest economy, with a $8 trillion GDP, in 2030.

General overview

India...jpg

India's population is estimated at more than 1.1 billion and is growing at 1.3% a year. It has the world's 5th largest economy—and the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China—with total GDP of around $3 trillion ($3,000 billion). Services, industry, and agriculture account for 55%, 27%, and 18% of GDP respectively. Nearly two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. 700 million Indians live on $2 per day or less, but there is a large and growing middle class of 325-350 million with disposable income for consumer goods.

India is continuing to move forward with market-oriented economic reforms that began in 1991. Recent reforms include liberalized foreign investment and exchange regimes, industrial decontrol, significant reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers, reform and modernization of the financial sector, significant adjustments in government monetary and fiscal policies, and safeguarding intellectual property rights.

Real GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007 was 9.4%, up from 9.0% growth in the previous year. Growth for the year ending March 31, 2008 is expected to be between 8.5 and 9.0%. Foreign portfolio and direct investment inflows have risen significantly in recent years. They have contributed to $255 billion in foreign exchange reserves by June 2007. Government receipts from privatization were about $3 billion in fiscal year 2003–2004, but the privatization program has stalled since then.

Economic growth is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, a cumbersome bureaucracy, corruption, labor market rigidities, regulatory and foreign investment controls, the "reservation" of key products for small-scale industries, and high (although declining) fiscal deficits. The outlook for further trade liberalization is mixed. India eliminated quotas on 1,420 consumer imports in 2002 and has incrementally lowered non-agricultural customs duties in recent successive budgets. However, the tax structure is complex, with compounding effects of various taxes.

The United States is India's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2006 was $32 billion. Principal U.S. exports are diagnostic or lab reagents, aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, ferrous waste/scrap metal, and computer hardware. Major U.S. imports from India include textiles and ready-made garments, Internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, gems and jewelry, leather products, and chemicals.

The rapidly growing software sector is boosting service exports and modernizing India's economy. Software exports crossed $28 billion in FY 2006–2007, while business process outsourcing (BPO) revenues hit $8.3 billion in 2006–2007. Personal computer penetration is 14 per 1,000 persons. The cellular/mobile market surged to 140 million subscribers by November 2006. The country has 54 million cable TV customers.

The United States is India's largest investment partner, with a 13% share. India's total inflow of U.S. direct investment is estimated at more than $9 billion through 2006. Proposals for direct foreign investment are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and generally receive government approval. Automatic approvals are available for investments involving up to 100% foreign equity, depending on the kind of industry. Foreign investment is particularly sought after in power generation, telecommunications, ports, roads, petroleum exploration/processing, and mining.

India's external debt was $155 billion in 2006–2007, up from $126 billion in 2005–2006. Foreign assistance was approximately $3 billion in 2006–2007, with the United States providing about $126 million in development assistance. The World Bank plans to double aid to India to almost $3 billion a year, with focus on infrastructure, education, health, and rural livelihoods.

In 2016, India abolished larger banknotes in a move toward a Cashless society.

Agriculture

Lady Carrying Fruits by Ravi Varma.

India has a cultivated area of 138 million hectares which almost equals that of the European Union. A lot of the land has good agriculture potential especially where water supplies are available. Arable farming, especially cereals is the main kind of farming. India, which has two thirds of its working population relying on the land to earn a living, desperately needs to improve agriculture production in order to develop its economy.

When India became independent from Britain in 1947 the Indian government recognized agriculture as a key area for economic development. Despite this there has been limited modernization of the sector. There hasn't been an effective land reform package introduced to redistribute land from wealthy landlords to landless peasants. In the 1990s almost half of rural families had plots of 0.5 hectares or no land at all, but a quarter of India's agricultural land was owned by five percent of rich landowning families. This has made it nearly impossible to mechanize and introduce modern farm practices.

The dominant type of farming throughout India is intensive Subsistence farming. It is used especially in rural areas with high population density, where people depend on being able to feed themselves. Rice is very important for this type of farming, especially in the Indus and Ganges flood plains. Other crops such as wheat and millet are grown in drier parts of peninsular India. Farming is a family affair, with all planting, flooding and harvesting done by hand. One of the reasons rural Indians have such large families is to provide free labour to help harvest crops. This adds to the pressure on India's service sector and India's agriculture sector to meet the demands of India's ever-growing population.

India is a country that has benefited from the Green revolution. This refers to the development and introduction of genetically modified, high yield varieties of staple crops, such as rice and wheat. These ‘miracle’ crops produce high yields and are resistant to disease and pests. Due to the Green revolution, India has managed to become a net exporter of food.

There is however some problems linked to the Green revolution. It depends on large inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that may be costly and harmful to the soil in the long run. Labour is often replaced with machinery, so rural unemployment goes up and more people leave the land and go to towns, increasing rural-urban migration. A well-educated farm population and capital investment are needed. It only really benefits comparatively few, large-scale farmers; large numbers of small-scale farmers may not be able to benefit from the process.

For a large number of Indian farmers a better solution would be the introduction of more intermediate technology and a more effective programme of land reform. While the Green revolution has brought some positive results, the vast majority of India's rice farmers use traditional farm practices that depend heavily on the natural environment. The need to match food production to match India's growing population is a major concern for government.

Industry

When India became independent in 1947 it had a largely underdeveloped Industrial system, with textiles and food processing been the key industries in the country. Only two percent of the working population had been employed in industry, which was concentrated in the major cities; Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. On gaining independence the new government was determined to reduce India's dependence on imported goods and to promote greater wealth and employment throughout the country.

The size of India's population provided it a large home market and the country had some natural resources (coal and Iron) a large and cheap labour force and outputs from agriculture (cotton, Jute) Mineral resources encouraged the government to develop heavy industries, such as Iron and steel, shipbuilding and chemicals. Despite these advantages development was relatively slow and only benefited a few growth centers. In addition, by the 1980s, many heavy industries were in decline, Industrial policy has changed to emphasize Agri-industries, consumer goods industries and small craft industries, rural development (community based development and self-help schemes) and high technology industries.

Agri-industries would be advantageous to India in that it already employs a large number of people in the agricultural sector. The development of fertilizers, machinery and food processing benefits rural communities and helps in the modernization of India's agricultural system.

Consumer goods industries are more labor-intensive than large-scale heavy industries, so more jobs are created as a result. They also benefit from low labour costs and traditional skills, which make them more competitive in, export markets. E.g. jewellary, clothing, leather goods etc.

With more than 70% of India's population living in rural areas, jobs need to be taken to these people rather than encouraging migration to urban areas. This involves support for community development projects and self-help schemes that improve skills levels among the workforce.

High technology (Hi-tech) industries are attracted to India by the growing number of India's skilled workers (Which produces more university graduates than USA and Canada combined) low costs and improved communication systems. These high value industries add a modern face to Indian industry. Many major multinationals, such as IBM and Texas instruments, have located in India. Large numbers of locally owned companies have also set up to supply software components to western markets. (See Spin-off Effect)

Although the government has tried to spread industry across the country, this growing sector remains concentrated in a growing number of city regions. The most important are Calcutta, Bombay and Bangalore. Bangalore is known as ‘India’s silicon valley’ as a result of all the high-tech industries which have set up there.

Trade

In FY24, India exported $77.5 billion worth of merchandise goods to the United States and imported $42.2 billion worth of goods from it, resulting in a trade surplus of $35.3 billion in India’s favor.

The US is India’s largest destination for pharmaceutical exports, accounting for over 31% of the country's total pharmaceutical exports. As much as 47% of all generics consumed in the US are imported from India.

Education

Sikh pilgrim at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

India has a large number of Universities, but the quality ranges from poor to medicore. The best students head to the U.S. or Britain. To cover this weakness, the government in July 2009 announced plans to expand the higher education budget by 40%, to $3.1-billion, for 2009–10.

The government in 2009 allotted an extra $435-million to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology, and $170.5-million more to open 16 central universities in states that lack one. In keeping with its agenda of inclusive economic growth, the government has also announced interest-free loans for disadvantaged students to take technical and professional courses.

To increase India's college-going rate to 21% by 2017, Prime Minister Singh has announced plans to start five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology — thus doubling the number of top-tier institutions in the country. He also wants to set up 16 central universities, 14 “world class” universities, and almost 400 colleges.

History

See History of India

Further reading

Guides

References

  1. ↑ https://www.downtoearth.org.in/video/governance/india-surpasses-china-to-become-most-populous-country-in-the-world-87257#:~:text=According%20to%20projections%20by%20the,now%20stands%20at%201.41%20billion.
  2. ↑ http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/documents/harisingh47.html
  3. ↑ https://www.sanskritimagazine.com/indian-religions/hinduism/how-old-is-the-word-hindu/
  4. ↑ "In the early 1900s ... English was ascendant in India. ... It was the lingua franca to which Indians, who spoke more than a dozen distinct languages, turned when they did not otherwise understand one another." (The Man Who Knew Infinity, page 25 - Robert Kanigel)
  5. ↑ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
  6. ↑ A tombstone with 13th-century Hebrew inscription discovered in India.
    A young chemical engineer from India, Thoufeek Zakriya, researcher of Jewish history and Hebrew calligrapher, was the first to decipher the inscription on the tombstone.

    Israel National News, Jul 7, 2024

  7. ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27380721
  8. ↑ http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=6705
  9. ↑ https://youtu.be/_3F6bVOyS68
  10. ↑ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/hindi-chini-bhai-bhai-2-0-dragon-and-elephant-must-dance-together-says-china-fm-pushing-for-stronger-sino-india-ties/articleshow/118779096.cms
  11. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53062484
  12. ↑ https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/china-says-5-military-officers-soldiers-killed-in-galwan-clash-with-india-report-2373770
  13. ↑ https://archive.is/6Hbvt
  14. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55793112
  15. ↑ https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17547/china-mobilizing-war
  16. ↑ Indian Army gets portable Igla-S Air defence system; Here's all about next-gen missiles to be deployed at China, Pakistan borders, ET Online, Apr 08, 2024. economictimes.indiatimes.com
  17. ↑ "India Defies Turmoil With Growth of 8.8%", MarketWatch, May 31, 2007. 
  18. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_largest_historical_GDP

See also

v • d • e
Indian philosophy
Major Philosophies
Related topics
v • d • e
Buddhism
Buddhas
Dharma
Sangha



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